In a series of experiments, mostly with Americans, psychologists in Germany found that not only were conservatives more nostalgic — even in a nonpolitical domain — but that nostalgia was the key to their hearts. They endorsed criminal-justice reform, gun control, diversity, and fairness at levels similar to liberals when these issues were presented as a return to the past rather than the present or future. In one example, “participants viewed a genuinely vintage comic strip featuring Superman defending social diversity to a group of schoolchildren” and “were either told that the comic was in its original form and communicated ‘old-fashioned values’ (past condition) or was being modified to reflect ‘modern-day values’ (control condition).” In the control condition, conservatives “strongly rejected the message.” In the past condition, “they equally supported the prodiversity message as liberals,” even though the message itself was the same.

Political scientists compared the characteristics of Republicans in Congress to their support for Donald Trump during the 2016 election. Most of them (80 percent) supported Trump in the end; female gender and Mormon religious affiliation were the strongest predictors of not supporting Trump. Ironically, establishment politicians — measured by voting record or leadership position — were more likely to support Trump. Ideology was only somewhat important, and electoral considerations were less important.

Johnson, L. et al., “#NeverTrump: Why Republican Members of Congress Refused to Support Their Party’s Nominee in the 2016 Presidential Election,” Research & Politics (January 2018).

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Michael A. Cohen tekes on the absurdities and hypocrisies of the current political moment.

Healthy college students had their heart rate measured at rest and then were shown videos of other college students recounting events that were either real or made up. Those with lower heart rates were better lie detectors — even controlling for gender, body-mass index, and how much they reported exercising. The theory is that being too excited or nervous narrows one’s attention, making it easier to miss subtle signals.

A national survey found that people judged parents, especially fathers, to be worse job candidates if they were parenting full-time, even compared with parents who were just unemployed. In an experiment, fake cover letters and resumes of parents who were looking to relocate with their families were sent to actual white-collar job openings around the country. All applicants were college-educated with the same total work experience. Again, though, applicants who were full-time parents generated the least interest, even compared with parents who had been unemployed for the same amount of time. This was particularly true for fathers in bad job markets and mothers in good job markets. Also worth noting: Employed fathers generated twice as much interest as employed mothers in bad job markets, whereas employed mothers generated more interest than employed fathers in good job markets.

In a series of experiments, women reported less interest in majors, internships, or jobs where ideal candidates were described as “brilliant,” “smart,” “intelligent,” and “talented” — as compared with areas described as being for the “dedicated,” “motivated,” “hardworking,” and “passionate.”